Wyatt Extends F1H2O World Championship Lead With Weather-Shortened Victory In Shanghai

For the third time this season, Canadian driver Rusty Wyatt, a rookie in the Union Internationale Motonautique F1H2O World Championship, finished atop the podium following a weather-shortened victory in the Grand Prix of Shanghai in China on Sunday.

In just his first season competing in the F1H2O World Championship, Canada’s Rusty Wyatt earned his third victory at the Grand Prix of Shanghai in China. Photo by Arek Rejs/courtesy F1H2O

The Sharjah Team driver extended his lead in the driver’s championship to 17.5 points ahead of Victory Team driver Erik Stark, who hails from Sweden. According to an F1H2O press release, the Grand Prix was red-flagged after 11 laps because of the deteriorating conditions on the Huangpu River but Wyatt had already built up a lead of more than seven seconds.

“We ended up doing a rolling start because of the crazy weather and the water,” Wyatt said in the release. “We were a little concerned what would happen off the dock with the wind so strong. It worked out well for us.

“We got three wins now,” he continued. “Hopefully we can keep the good times rolling. It’s looking good. The boat is perfect. We’ve got a little bit more of a technical course coming up two weeks from now, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully the weather will be a little better.”

For several laps, a fantastic battle for second developed behind the Canadian between Swedish drivers Stark and Jonas Andersson. The defending F1H2O world champion, Andersson held off his friend and rival for just over eight laps when they both came together in a spectacular duel for position at a turn buoy.

Stark teetered on the edge of a barrel-roll and managed to snatch second place with Andersson hooking his DAC and somehow managing to stay afloat with boat fragments flying in the air. The two Swedes held those positions when the race was red-flagged soon afterward.

Sweden’s Erik Stark, who won the second race of the season, finished second in the weather-shortened race on Sunday in Shanghai. Photo by Simon Palfrader/courtesy F1H2O

The Red Devil SMC F1 Team’s Ferdinand Zandbergen climbed above Team Vietnam’s Stefan Arand to hold fourth place and was pressuring Andersson when the race was stopped. The CTIC China Team’s Peter Morin weaved his way through the field from 16th to finish in sixth place and his American teammate, Brent Dillard, took seventh.

The F1 Atlantic Team’s Ben Jelf came home in eighth, Wyatt’s teammate, Filip Roms, was ninth and Team Abu Dhabi’s veteran driver, Thani Al-Qemzi, rounded off the top 10 after being penalized one lap for destroying a turn buoy.

Wyatt led Andersson and Stark into the start of the first Grand Prix to be staged in the world’s third largest city for 20 years. While organizers hoped the weather would play ball after it forced the cancellation of Saturday’s two sprint races and Friday’s first free practice session, it did not hold off long enough to complete 32 laps on the demanding course off the Cruise Terminal in the Baoshan district of Shanghai.

Wet and murky conditions and gusting winds were prevalent at the start of the fourth round of the F1H2O World Championship, which prompted race officials to switch to a rolling start rather than a blast from the pontoon. Wyatt stormed to a 5-second lead after the first lap as the leaders held station through the opening turns. Andersson maintained the pace for several laps but had no answer for Wyatt’s start as the Canadian was 7.2 seconds ahead of Stark and 8.6 seconds ahead of Andersson when the race ended.

The championship action continues in two weeks on the Yellow River in Zhengzhou, China, October 17-19.

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